Tennis: Venus Williams' anticipated decline was premature

Venus Williams, 34, beat her sister Serena last week for the first time in five years. Her WTA rank has risen to No. 20.

The end had come.

The Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd felt it, standing as one that rainy night last August to pay homage to Venus Williams as she walked off the court. The seven-time Grand Slam champion had just been ousted in the second round of the U.S. Open.

And Flushing Meadows was saying goodbye — maybe forever.

Williams had been through so much in recent years. She was diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome — an autoimmune disease that sapped her energy and caused significant joint pain. There also was a debilitating back injury.

And the athleticism that propelled her to revolutionize the sport was fading.

But something unexpected happened after that defeat.

Williams didn’t fold.

With another U.S. Open less than two weeks away, she once again has cracked the WTA’s Top 20.

Last week, Williams, 34, beat sister Serena for the first time in five years to advance to the final of the well-regarded Rogers Cup. She then lost to Agnieszka Radwanska in the championship, but moved up six places to No. 20 — her highest ranking since March 2013.

Williams has looked rejuvenated this season despite her loss Tuesday to Wimbledon semifinalist and 17th-ranked Lucie Safarova, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, in the first round of the Western & Southern Open.

"I wish I could have felt like I did in Montreal, just to make it more competitive," Williams said after playing her seventh match in eight days. "It was definitely a quick turnaround."

But two decades after going pro, she again is America’s second-ranked woman behind No. 1 Serena and just ahead of Sloane Stephens.

She has climbed back into the Top 20 facing women 14 years her junior.

Williams had fallen to No. 103 in 2011, when she was diagnosed with Sjogren’s. She rebounded to 24 in 2012, but fell back to 49 last year, only fueling the conjecture that she was done.

"I hope I can keep some of this control in my life," said Williams, who has not won a Grand Slam event since 2008. "If I have that control, I can enjoy being on the court, and I can win as well."

Maybe Williams has one more magical run in her.

And if this U.S. Open is her last, Williams can go out on her terms, not anyone else’s.